The Voyage of the Ironclad
by middleearthmidget
Summary: In the aftermath of the Sea of Monsters, Percy and his friends are running out of time. War is brewing between the sides of good and evil. Can they reach Luke before he reaches his goal? First full length fic. T for safety. Please reveiw!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: You know, it would be really cool if I owned the Percy Jackson series. Perhaps I'll try to steal it someday. But it is not this day! This day I do not own the Percy Jackson series! By all that you hold dear, I bid you-oh.

"Father."

"Punk."

Ares, god of war, was not in a good mood. Despite all his encouragement, his daughter had FAILED him. It had been Jackson that had rescued her from the Cyclops. Jackson who had fought Luke on the cruise ship. And Clarisse? What had she done but be rescued and then become a courier for his arch enemy? And now she had the nerve to contact him?

"Father I...I need a favour."

"Get lost."

"Father, it's for the camp! It's for Olympus!"

"The camp and Olympus aren't asking me."

"Father, please...I need another ship."

Ares laughed. No deal, loser. You had your chance.

"Father...I need a ship and a crew so I can destroy Luke. He's out there now. We have a chance to stop him!"

"No you don't. I sponsored you once and you failed. I'm not going to make that mistake again."

"Father, Imagine the glory you could have if it was our cabin that destroyed Luke?"

Ares considered this. "I suppose this would be a venture for the Ares cabin _only? _

Clarisse went silent. Then: "No, Father, Jackson-

"_Jackson? _You want me to provide you with a ship and a crew so my _enemy _can steal the glory _again? _

"Father, Jackson's help would be invaluable! We might not be able to do this without him!"

"No, Clarisse. I will provide you with a ship and a crew, another Confederate vessel. But the Ares cabin, and only the Ares cabin, will board this ship."

"Father, we can't exclude Jackson from this. It...it was his idea."

Ares sneered. "Then let's hope you can make up for in strength what you lack in brains. Or are you too cowardly to go without him?"

Clarisse straightened. "No, father. I will go, we'll blow Luke out of the water and we'll prove that Jackson is nothing. I will not fail you, Father."

Ares smiled. "Good." He drew his sword and slashed it across the face of his daughter and the image disintegrated.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: You know, it would be really cool if I owned the Percy Jackson series. Perhaps I'll try to steal it someday. But it is not this day! This day I do not own the Percy Jackson series! By all that you hold dear, I bid you-oh.

Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon was not a happy camper. Going after Luke on another zombie ship had been his idea, though, as his friend Annabeth had helpfully pointed out, it wasn't a genius plan that nobody else could have come up with. Still, a son of Poseidon not allowed travel by sea? Surely Olympus had regulations against that sort of stuff. Annabeth had said it didn't. At least Grover had bleated indignantly when Clarisse had told him he couldn't come.

The worst part was there was no way Clarisse would be able to succeed without him and she knew it, but her pride would never let her accept it. At least he wasn't the only one disappointed, annoyed and downright angry at Clarisse, her father, her siblings, her friends, their friends and their friend's pets; she had declared that by the will of her dumb ass father, this was to be an Ares only quest.

Percy sat with his friends around the campfire on the back row of benches. The Apollo cabin hadn't even bothered to try to get everyone singing this time; they had decided like everyone else their time would be better spent plotting revenge against Clarisse, her father, her sibling, her friends, their friends and their friend's pets.

"This is completely unfair. This is my quest, they can't just exclude me from it!"

"I think Ares would disagree." Replied Annabeth dryly.

"But this isn't just a normal quest! Does Clarisse really think she can take on Luke on her own? She needs all the help she can get!"

"I know that, you know that. Even Clarisse knows that. Ares..."

"Ares is just trying to get his revenge on me, but he must know we'll lose the battle if he doesn't let anyone else in on this!"

"Yes, he does."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Ares is not ruining the war effort unintentionally."

"Annabeth, he is the _god of war!"_

"And he's holding more than one grudge."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Annabeth sighed exasperatedly. "Percy, sometimes I think you've been drinking way too much seawater."

"I got that from 'seaweed brain'."

Annabeth smiled slightly.

"Do you really think Ares is very happy with Clarisse after she let us take her glory last week?"

Percy flashed back to the conversation he'd seen between Clarisse and her dad on the _Birmingham _and hadn't even told Annabeth or Grover about.

"No. No I don't."

"Either Ares doesn't care how this quest goes one bit, or he wants revenge on Clarisse for making him look bad."

"Baaaah! Typical Ares!" Grover chimed in.

"We can't let Ares get in the way of this quest! We have a chance to destroy Luke and Kronos-we can't let Ares stuff it up!" said Percy.

"No, we can't."

"So, what's the plan?"

"I don't know. Do you have a plan?"

"_You _don't have a plan and you expect _me _to?"

"No, I don't."

"Well, if Annabeth doesn't have a plan, I can only think of one person who might." Said Grover.

Well, my first real chapter. Pleeeease review!


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: You know, it would be really cool if I owned the Percy Jackson series. Perhaps I'll try to steal it someday. But it is not this day! This day I do not own the Percy Jackson series! By all that you hold dear, I bid you-oh.

"Ah, Percy, Annabeth and Grover! I've been expecting you. Please come in!

The three demigods stepped into Chiron's room in the big house, wishing they had bought ear plugs to combat the mind-numbing effects of Chiron's music.

"Expecting us?" asked Percy.

Chiron chuckled. "You didn't seem very happy about Clarisse's announcement earlier today."

Knowing he couldn't withstand the all time greatest hits of Dean Martin for long, Percy decided to get straight to the point. "Can you help us?"

"I suppose that depends on what you need help with. Clarisse's pride rivals even her father's, Percy, but I do not think she is the one against your coming."

Percy remembered how her attitude had almost shown signs of changing after they had returned from the Sea of Monsters. Then he remembered how she had told him how she was still waiting for the right opportunity to pulverize him.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Aside from the fact you have saved her life and given her a second chance at a quest that should have been yours, she knows she needs her help. If she lets you help, no doubt her father will be angry. However, if she fails..."

Percy thought about what Ares might say and do to Clarisse if she failed at her attempt for redemption, quickly stamping out the small amount of pity that rose up inside him as he did.

"Chiron, do you think you could convince Clarisse to let us go with her?"

"I do not think she needs convincing, Percy. However, if your father told you that Clarisse was not allowed to go on your quest, what would you do?"

"But this is different; Clarisse's dad is _horrible _to her! He..." Percy abruptly stopped as Chiron raised his eyebrows. However much he might dislike Clarisse, he didn't think it was right for anyone else to know how her dad treated her, and that it would be even worse if she found out he knew.

"Percy, your enmity with Clarisse aside, convincing her would be possible and perhaps easier than you think. Ares, on the other hand, would only be infuriated if we tried to get him to go back on his words."

"Well, I've defied the will of Ares before. If we can convince Clarisse, we'll go."

"Defying the will of a god is a very dangerous thing, Percy."

"I've done it before!"

"Percy, this is different. To do this would not only insult and anger Ares but give him the opportunity to act on it."

"He's a coward. He wouldn't dare fight me again!"

"No, he wouldn't. But if you trespass on his property, if you board that ship, he will destroy you. He could legitimately order all those undead sailors on that ship to kill you then and there and of course they would not be released to the underworld until you were dead. The Ares cabin would become your sworn enemies and attempt to kill you at every turn. It would mean war in camp half blood!"

As far as Percy was concerned, the Ares campers were already his sworn enemies, but at the thought of a war, he couldn't help but laugh.

"I doubt anyone would want to side with me if it came to war."

"Well Percy, I think you would be surprised. However, I do not think the question is who would side with you, but rather, who would side against Ares."

Percy thought about how nice it would be to finally settle his differences with the Ares cabin, old style. Then he realized what that would mean. Camp Half-Blood was supposed to be a place where people could be safe, not one where they were forced to choose sides and risk their lives in a demigod-war.

As always, Grover seemed to know what he was thinking. "I wouldn't worry about that though Percy. If you gave Ares a legitimate reason to destroy you, I don't think he would waste the chance."

"Then what can I do? If I try to help and stop this quest from going to the bottom of the ocean like a lead balloon, Ares will see it as a direct challenge to him and the perfect opportunity to kill me."

"Yup." Supplied Annabeth helpfully.

"So there's nothing I can do, besides directly insult Ares?"

Then Chiron did something that none of them had expected; he laughed softly. "Percy, if I am not mistaken, to deny you sea travel would be a direct insult to Poseidon."

A big THANKYOU! to my first reviewers, Princess of Flames and...Unknown Z :D It was really awesome to have your feedback!

Okay, I'm gonna just go right out and admit that I am not a very reliable updater; I don't ever plan my stories (though I have a rough idea in my head) and really only write when the mood takes me (though sometimes I force myself to. My advice to people who feel the same would be to just make a start: it gets a lot easier once you've started!) So, I've decided that I will go for regular updates (probably every Friday after now since I like Fridays :D) That way, I can store them up for when I am busy or not feeling very creative. I may speed up this rate if I end up producing a lot of excess chapters but I'll try very hard not to slow down! Again I implore all my readers (cricket noises...) to review!


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.

Well, I am getting really bored of that old Disclaimer. So, I would like to invite all my readers (cricket noises) to PM me with a better one. Of course, I will also put a disclaimer for the disclaimer so you will get the credit.

Running to your father to fight your fights for you was widely accepted as a pussy course of action, but since he was fighting with a near-omnipotent being and his father was the only other near-omnipotent being who would help him, Percy had decided that it was acceptable in this case.

Right now though, he just felt embarrassed. He was going to stand on the shore of Long Island Sound and call the name "Rainbow" loud enough to wake up every demigod in the camp. It took him a split second to decide that just would not do. Wading into the sea, he released a series of large bubbles that he hoped meant 'Rainbow' underwater.

Even though he could breather perfectly normally, Percy found himself holding his breath. Minutes passed, or were they hours? He was sure the whole thing would have gone a lot quicker if Tyson was with him, but as it was Tyson was just the person he was trying to get to.

A small shark nuzzled up to him, breaking his train of thought. Seeing the creature by his thigh, he quickly realized what had happened the last time a shark had nuzzled up to him and grabbed its dorsal fin. The shark wriggled to get free and swam off. _So much for that_ he thought.

Fish swam dumbly by, none of them with a horse's torso. By now Percy had decided that Rainbow the hippocampus hadn't heard him, wasn't listening or had chosen not to answer. Then, finally, the horse-fish himself appeared, looking decidedly worse for wear.

The hippocampus hurriedly apologized and explained that playing with Tyson had tired him out and promising to give him free rides to make up for it.

Percy smiled; it was good to know his brother was having a good time despite the fact he was working in a blazing underwater inferno. Stifling Rainbow's offers for loop-the-loops and barrel roles and promising that taking him to Poseidon's palace quickly would be more than payment, he mounted the fish-horse, which promptly began to swim hard in a...direction. That was odd; Percy had no idea where.

Percy figured that Poseidon's palace was either a lot closer than he had expected or hippocampi had special powers over distance like centaurs. Either way, had soon reached the impressive (though as Percy saw it rather pointless) wall.

"_Er, Rainbow?"_

"_Yes Lord?"_

"_Er, the wall...Couldn't you just swim over it? _

"_Not a normal wall, lord. You cannot swim over it."_

The hippocampus' voice sounded tired in Percy's mind. _"Thanks for the ride, big fella. I can go on from here."_

The hippocampus immediately redoubled his speed. _"No, lord! I will see you to your father's palace! Quickest way is to ride me!"_

Percy noticed a change as they neared the palace of Poseidon. The water grew clearer. There were more reefs and the fish were more colourful. Soon enough they had reached the gates, which shone like they were made of pearls. They probably were, thought Percy.

A Cyclops guard stood on the wall top, though considering the sub-standard sight of his kind he probably hadn't spotted Percy rapidly approaching on rainbow yet. When he did, he let out a joyful cry and clapped his hands.

"Percy!"

The demigod in question grinned broadly. "Tyson!

"It is good to see you again, brother."

"Can I come in?"

Tyson nodded eagerly. "Percy can enter!"

As soon as the words left Tyson's mouth, Percy felt the currents change, pushing the pearly gates outward. As soon as they were fully open, rainbow sped inside and Percy dismounted. What he saw left him breathless.

'**The palace was as big as the city on Mount Olympus, with wide courtyards, gardens and columned pavilions. The gardens were sculpted with coral colonies and glowing sea plants. Twenty or thirty buildings were made of abalone, white but gleaming with rainbow colours. Fish and octopi darted in and out of the windows. The paths were lined with glowing pearls like Christmas lights.**'-_Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian _

They set out towards the temple which stood out above all the other buildings across on the far side of the wide main courtyard. Percy assumed it was where Poseidon lived, and figured he'd be pretty annoyed if that wasn't where Tyson was taking him.

"So, Tyson, how are things around here? I mean...the war preparations and stuff?"

"It goes well. The mermen have been busy training and building extra walls and towers. We Cyclopes are making many weapons for them. I can only make normal ones, but some of the older smiths can make very good weapons; magical weapons. Take you to the forge if you like" said Tyson, stopping and turning in another direction.

"Not today, brother. I have to see dad as soon as possible maybe some other time, alright?"

"Tyson grinned broadly." Some other time is good, brother. You will be amazed when you see what we make."

They kept walking towards the temple, with Tyson pointing out buildings. "See over there? Those are the stables for the fish-ponies. Behind those you can see the village where the mermen live. The armoury is over there; have to carry lots of things over there. It is quite easy to do underwater though."

They passed many gardens and statues and courtyards with Tyson explaining what every one of them was for.

They had come to the steps of the temple now. Two mermish guards stood on either side of the huge double doors. They looked at Percy, nodded and pulled the doors open.

The doors opened up into a single, huge hall, lined with impressive columns that Tyson couldn't have wrapped his arms around. At the end of the hall there were two thrones: One in the middle and a smaller one to the right. The one on the right was empty, but the larger throne was occupied. Both the throne and its occupant were oversized; the occupant would have stood about three metres tall. The throne itself was an exact copy of its twin on Olympus: a simple fisherman's chair with a trident in the holder, in contrast to the second chair which was stately and made of solid abalone, lined with gold. The one sitting on the throne had black hair and a black beard, emerald eyes and wrinkles on his face which indicated he smiled a lot.

Percy walked halfway up to the throne and bowed, as did Tyson. "Father." They said in unison.

The god smiled. "My sons." The demigod and the Cyclops straightened. "Welcome home."

**Okay, by my reckoning it is now a month since I last posted even though I'm supposed to be posting every week. Here's the reason why: I went on holiday for 10 days, including the first two Fridays and got sick while I was there. I was then ill for another week, and I'm still not quite better. Anyway, I plan to go back to (actually, have I ever posted once a week) regular posting now. I would really, really appreciate if you reviewed. Well, I can't really give you anything if you're the first to review, except...A pre-release of the next chapter! Yes, that's what I'll do. I know nothing's really happened yet, but if you are the first to review this chapter, I will PM you the next one as soon as I get it done. **


	5. Chapter 4

Percy smiled. "It's good to be here."

Tyson nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, it is very good that Percy has come to visit!"

Poseidon said nothing to this but looked expectantly at Percy, who for a moment didn't know what to say. He'd only met his father once before, and that conversation had ended with the God of the Seas telling Percy he was sorry he'd been born. What could he say to his now that wouldn't sound lame? Suddenly however the ADHD part of his brain came to the conclusion that anything would be better than standing there like a piece of kelp and that lame would just have to do.

"So, dad, how...how are things going down here?"

"The situation is perhaps worse at this time than the other Olympians realize, or are prepared to admit to themselves. My vision grows ever more clouded: something conceals the _Princess Andromeda _from me and that power is growing stronger."

Well, at least that was some explanation as to why the gods hadn't just destroyed the ship already, thought the very small part of Percy's brain which was overly optimistic. The vast majority however was feeling decidedly disheartened that plan A had just gone right to the Ocean floor.

"However," continued Poseidon "I do not think you have come all this way simply to discuss with me the state of my kingdom."

There was a long pause, in which once again Percy was unsure of what to say. Then: "No. No I haven't."

Poseidon raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. "Then perhaps you wish to talk to me about a certain Confederate vessel which is currently approaching Long Island sound?"

_Well, he is the god of the sea. _Thought Percy. _I guess he keeps tabs on that kind of stuff. _

"Yeah. It's about that ship. You see, I came up with this idea. I think that we should destroy Kronos _now, _before he gets any stronger." Percy began. "Then I thought of the zombie ship we travelled on while we were trying to enter the sea of monsters...which I suppose you already know about?"

Poseidon smiled slightly and nodded.

"Well, it didn't turn out to be much use against the monsters guarding the entrance. But I thought that if Clarisse could pray to her dad and arrange for us to have one of those, we could find the Princess Andromeda and, well...blow it up."

"Poseidon shook his head. And by 'we' I assume you mean 'you' could find the ship?"

"Yes, father. But...as you might be able to imagine, Ares doesn't seem to think I should be going along."

Poseidon's smile broadened. "Yes, I can imagine that."

There was another short pause. _It's now or never _thought Percy. _Just do it! _The ADHD part of his brain told him, and that settled it.

"Father, I need your help. If we're going to stop this war before it starts, we need to make sure this mission works out, and I don't think it will unless I'm there to help. They won't even be able to _find _the _Princess Andromeda _without me, and once they got there they'd be facing a much bigger, faster ship and Luke's entire army of demons."

Poseidon shook his head. "I am afraid, Percy, that if you want me to persuade Ares to allow you to board his ship, you have come to the wrong person. In fact, I doubt anyone could sway the war god in this matter. His grudge against you will defeat all reason in him, as so often happens with Ares."

Percy didn't know what to say. He thought his father would have understood what he wanted. He may not know him very well personally, but from what he did know about him Poseidon was not one to take any form of insult to himself or his family lightly.

"Father... This is important. We can't just let Ares ruin our chances here, because more than all of our prides is at stake!" Percy's voice came out angrier than he'd intended. "If Ares won't willingly let me go on this quest then we need to make him!"

The corner of the Sea God's mouth twitched. "And by _we_ I assume you mean _me._"

"Father, you _have _to help us. If not for me, then for Olympus; for everything that's here which will be destroyed if Kronos is allowed to make his war. Even if we win, there'll be a price to pay. We have to try and stop him! Please, help us stop him."

Poseidon was silent for a moment. Then, he slowly shook his head. "I cannot."

Percy was dumbstruck. He had _expected _his father to help him. However his father felt towards him, he had thought that he'd be reasonable enough to see that it was for the good of everyone.

"But daddy, why can't you help Percy? He needs you." Tyson sounded confused.

"You do not understand, Tyson. Go now, I must speak to Perseus alone."

Still looking confused, Tyson bowed respectfully and swam to the doors. The guards pushed them open and he left.

Then Poseidon began to speak again. "I cannot do what you ask of me, my son, but not for the reasons you may think. To challenge Ares' authority over this matter would risk destabilizing the situation on Olympus, and right now we gods must stay united. However I may feel personally, my duty will not allow me to act as such."

Percy closed his eyes, trying to contain his growing anger. He needed his father on his side. He couldn't offend him. But when he opened his eyes he couldn't stop himself from replying "And what about your duty to protect Olympus? What if because you decide not to help me Clarisse fails and Kronos ends up destroying it? I suppose then Ares can be as angry as he wants because he'll only have the rest of our mortal lives to hate us."

Percy knew saying that had been a big mistake, but he didn't care. Was every god just as blind as Ares? He turned around and started to swim off.

"Perseus."

Percy couldn't help turning back around to face his father. "Why have you come to me for help?"

"Because you were the only one who could." The bubbles coming from Percy's mouth were shaking with emotion now.

Amazingly, Poseidon's face was still completely calm. "Am I?"

"You're the only God of the Seas I know."

"Well, there's Oceanus, the Titan of the Oceans, who I believe we'll be seeing again soon. However, that is beside the point, as I do not think he would be eager to offer you his assistance. Perseus, do you have no faith in your own power?

"My first idea was to go whether Ares wanted me to or not, but I've been persuaded against that."

Poseidon nodded. "And wisely so. However, just because you can't openly challenge Ares doesn't mean you can't...what is the saying? Ah, throw your weight around."

"What do you mean by that?"

"My son, you are stronger than you think. If you don't want that ship to leave without you, I am sure that it won't. Or perhaps, to put it a little more bluntly, while I cannot threaten this expedition, you can."

Again, Percy was dumbstruck. Was Poseidon suggesting that he had the power, the _authority _to stop Clarisse from leaving him behind?"

"You must go now. Tyson is waiting outside for you. Be sure to visit the forge before you leave. They are expecting you there. Also, note that Ares' confederate vessel will arrive in Long Island Sound at sunrise. You'd best be there to, ah, welcome it."

Percy bowed absentmindedly and turned once again to leave. His father had given him a lot to think about. Poseidon had granted him some pretty cool powers over the ocean when he was in the Sea of Monsters, but he'd just implied that he could stop a ship under the power of Ares from leaving without him, which was way beyond his abilities as far as he knew. And what had his father meant when he said that they were 'expecting him' at the forge?

"Perseus, wait."

Percy turned around, surprised.

"There are two more things that you must remember. The first is that you must never underestimate the Titan Lord. Achieving success may be much more difficult than you imagine. The second is that you have power. The control you have over the Ocean is not granted by me but a part of you. Perhaps it will surprise you some time in the near future. Believe in yourself, my son.

Then the god of the sea nodded to him, a subtle but clear indication that he was dismissed.

**Well, here it is. I realize this chapter is just basically a single conversation (have I had a chapter that wasn't a single conversation?) But hopefully there will be some longer ones in the near future... Just like last time, the first person to review this chapter gets a pre-release of the next one, so PLEEEEEASE review! **


	6. Chapter 5

"What did daddy say?"

Percy had just left the temple-building-throne room-thingy and met Tyson who had been waiting outside the doors.

"I really don't know, big guy."

"...I would not understand?"

"No! No, it's not that, it's...I don't really know what dad said myself. He seems to think I'm strong enough to deal with it myself."

Tyson grinned. "Yes Percy, you are very strong. You will beat them!"

Percy shook his head. "I don't know, big guy."

"Well," said Tyson "maybe you can kill more monsters if we help you."

"Thanks big guy, but I think dad needs you down here."

"Yes, we cannot come" said Tyson, his voice full of regret "but we can give you some good weapons; really good ones! I know the smiths would be glad to make things for daddy's son, then you can kill lots of monsters!"

Remembering what Poseidon had said about the Cyclopes expecting him, he turned to his half-brother and couldn't help grinning right back at him. "Lead the way, big guy!"

They arrived at the forge after a few minutes of walking, talking, and Tyson pointing everything out.

The first though Percy had as he entered the forge was how jealous Beckendorf would be if he could see the place. It was a huge hall, lined with alcoves which each contained a roaring underwater Greek fire. The place was filled with Cyclopes, working the bellows or hammering out the metal. The metal had to be hammered out in the fire itself as the place was underwater but of course this was no problem for the Cyclopses, who could have taken a bath in the bright green flames and come out completely unharmed. Percy noticed though that there was something different about the weapons which were being formed; the water was thick with sparks which shone unnaturally like tiny stars. Then he saw the weapons which had been placed on racks through the room and noticed that they all seemed to glow silver.

His train of thought was interrupted by a shark which swam through the window with several straps covering its body. It swam over to a rack where two Cyclopses began to strap weapons onto it. The shark then swam out of another window, carrying an assortment of axes, swords and spears on its back.

Tyson grinned broadly. I am glad that we got the carrying-sharks we asked for, that means I won't need to take things to the armoury anymore!

A Cyclops who seemed older than any of the others swam up to Percy and Tyson. He was the only Cyclops Percy had ever seen who really looked old; even Polyhemus, who had been around for over three thousand years hadn't shown any signs of age. This one's face though was lined with wrinkles and his hands were so heavily calloused that it was difficult to see the skin underneath.

"My name is sfyrí to̱n Theó̱n. Welcome to my forge."

_A bit of a mouthful _thought Percy. Then he realized what the name meant: _Smith of the Gods. _

Tyson bowed his head respectfully to his elder and then said to Percy: "Percy, this is the boss. He is the greatest smith in the world!" Tyson's voice was full of pride.

"Now there young one, that may be going too far. The _oldest _smith in the world would be perhaps more accurate, though young Hephaestus surpasses my skill now."

Percy's jaw dropped. _Young _Hephaestus? How old was sfyrí? How could he be older than a god?

"Er, sir...how-"

"How old am I?" The Cyclops laughed. "Older than I care to remember. Oh, I have seen a lot and made a lot in my time. Back in the old days I used to lead my brothers in the fight against Kampe. Then of course Lord Zeus joined us and together we freed all the Cyclopses from Tartarus. To repay out debt to him I and our best and brightest forged his thunderbolt; the most powerful weapon that has ever been forged by our kind. Afterwards we made many lesser copies also for his use, as well as the Trident of Poseidon your father. And most recently," said Sfyrί, "we forged the weapon of his son."

Percy frowned. He already had a perfectly good sword, thank you very much.

"I already have a sword." He said, pulling out riptide and uncapping it.

Sfyrí held out his hand and Percy offered him the hilt. Taking it firmly in his hand he twirled it in his hand, swinging it about to feel the balance. "Anaklumnos. Yes, I remember this blade."

He was silent for a moment. Then he said "This is a good sword, Perseus Jackson and it fits your hand well. Yet it is not for you to wield. Certainly this is not the right sword for you."

_Does he mean I'm not worthy to use Riptide? _

The old Cyclops looked intently at him and then said "No, I think you misunderstand me, son of Poseidon. This sword has a long and tragic history_; it_ is not fit for_ your_ hand. However, I do have something that is: a sword that was in fact _made _to fit your hand. As you may have been told, I have been expecting you."

He then recapped Riptide and fixed his gaze intently on the object that was now a pen. Then he began muttering in a language that Percy recognised as the one Kronos had used two years previously to try and pull him into Tartarus: the language of magic. Then Riptide disappeared.

"What the..."

"There will come a time when you will need to return this sword to the hand of its rightful owner. When that time comes, you must invoke the following incantation: Xífos ti̱s thlípsi̱s , epistréfoun tó̱ra sto chéri tou kyríou sou!"

"But-"

"You shall know when that time comes. Now, repeat the spell to me."

Of course, Percy got it wrong, and it took about five minutes before sfyrí was finally satisfied.

"Now then, we can't leave you without a sword can we? Luckily young Apollo paid me a visit about fourteen years ago and warned me that a time would soon come when a son of the Sea God would need a sword of mine. And so I spent many a week in my personal forges, never stopping, hammering the strongest metals in the hottest fires and muttering words of power all the time, never stopping night and day. I forged it in the fashion of your father's trident; I think that you will find it satisfactory. Come!"

They swam out of the doors now, heading in a direction that Percy realized would take them to the armoury. On the way he saw three sharks carrying weapons to and fro and a group of young mermen leaving with newly acquired weapons.

After a few minutes they arrived at the armoury. The room was overflowing with weapons: spears and tridents were the most common and were clearly intended for the mermen; there were also huge clubs as tall as Percy which were obviously made for the hands of Cyclopses. Apart from that there seemed to be nothing at all remarkable about the room.

Sfyrí said nothing but strode over to the bare wall opposite them. Bare, except, for a single glyph of a language Percy couldn't identify but Annabeth probably could glowed bright green in the twilight.

"Come, young half-blood. There is a door here which will open only for you."

Percy strode up to what was apparently the wall, feeling a little stupid. What was he supposed to do?

"Place your hand on the Glyph." Sfyrí instructed. Percy did as he was asked. At his touch, nothing happened. _Er, did I touch it wrong or something? _

Then Percy noticed the thin lines of green flames moving in an arch from the bottom of the wall to meet each other in the middle. When they did, the stone was split open by another line of Green flames running straight down the centre. The newly formed doors swung slowly open of their own accord.

Percy guessed that he was supposed to swim inside.

The small room was about the size of a closet and completely empty save for a slab of rock, which was completely empty save for the pen which lay resting on it.

Percy went to reach for it, but Sfyrí grabbed his arm and held it back. "I'd prefer you not do that. You see, I made this blade like Anaklumnos, only with a few extra enchantments. Hold out your palm and imagine the sword flying into it. Don't worry, it's not hard."

"_Great" _thought Percy "_it's made with dummies in mind." _Holding out his hand and doing his best to make it look magical, he closed his eyes and thought of the sword zooming into his palm. Of course, nothing happened.

Sfyrí looked agitated, as if he thought he really had made the pen foolproof and was disappointed he hadn't accounted for someone like Percy. He shook his head.

"No, no! You're doing it wrong. You must imagine that you _need _the sword. You see, I have designed this blade to come to your hand whenever you need it. There is no waiting for it to return: it will come when you call."

Percy closed his eyes again, trying to fight off the impulse to do exactly as Sfyrí was suggesting and call 'Here boy!' He tried to imagine that he needed the sword. Nothing happened.

It was only Percy's reflexes that saved him. Apparently, Sfyrí had gotten fed up of his stupidity and had decided to take a swing at him. A swing that would have knocked him right out if he hadn't dodged just in time. He spun out of the way, straightening and facing his opponent. The pen immediately left its podium and shot into his hand.

Sfyrí smiled. "Your imagination could use some work, Perseus Jackson, but your reflexes seem to more than make up for it. Well, go on; uncap the pen before I can get you!"

This swing was faster still and Percy only managed to dive aside because he had been expecting it. In one motion, he rolled and uncapped the pen in his hand.

Suddenly, Percy felt a huge rush of energy course through him, the way he did when he entered water. Percy marvelled at the blade; there was only one thing he had ever seen which it resembled. Zeus' lightning bolt. It shone as if it held the light of a thousand pearls, glowing silver-white and illuminating the entire room. Looking closely, he saw that the sword seemed to contain a whirlwind of energy, making it look almost like a lava lamp. He knew that it was not hollow though; whatever was moving about inside the sword was part of the metal itself. With his mouth now wide open Percy recapped the sword.

Sfyrí was positively grinning; for the first time Percy thought he resembled Tyson. "The finest sword I have made in millennia." He said. "As I told you, I made it in the fashion of your father's trident; it will give you strength in battle like the strength which water gives you. Only the weapons of the gods exceed this sword. It is forged from the finest Celestial Bronze I had available; it will never tarnish. The blade is sharper and harder than any other weapon that demigods wield and the nature of the metal makes it even more deadly. If you were to strike me with it I would die; only the strongest monsters withstand a blow from this sword. Its power will help your control over the ocean especially. I imagine that particular feature will come in very useful soon."

"_How does he know about that?" _Percy wondered. Could this Cyclops see the future, could he read minds, or had he simply been eavesdropping?

"Another thing you must remember about this sword though is that it behaves differently to most Celestial bronze weapons, as do the weapons of the gods.

"What do you mean?"

"You are aware, I assume, of the one thing that Celestial bronze cannot kill?"

Percy nodded. "Mortals. Mortals can't be killed by Celestial bronze because they aren't important enough to be touched by the weapon."

"Do you then maintain that no Celestial bronze weapon can harm mortals?"

"Yes, of course."

"But many mortals are killed by lightning."

Percy's mouth fell open slightly. He hadn't thought of that at all.

"Perseus, you are correct in saying that mortals cannot be hurt by _normal _Celestial bronze weapons. However, there is a limit to that rule. The most powerful Celestial bronze weapons are simply too powerful for anything, or anyone, to be immune to them. Yours is such a sword."

Percy couldn't help feeling just a little sick. _Like Backbiter _he thought. He remembered Chiron telling him that demigods shouldn't hurt mortals unless absolutely necessary.

Sfyrí's smile dimmed a little. "You must realize" he began "that the crooked one does not discriminate on who he employs as servants. Mortals are the weakness of your kind; you do not wish to harm them. This is something he is sure to turn to his advantage. He will enslave an army that your weapons cannot touch given the chance. They may be naive, but mortals are not to be underestimated."

Percy guessed the look on his face hadn't changed, because Sfyrí continued: "Understand that this blade would not have been forged for you, Perseus, if you were not fit to wield it."

There was a long silence. Then Sfyrí said "The sun will soon rise. You must prepare to leave, Perseus. Your quest awaits you."

"I will go with you, brother!" Tyson chimed in.

"No, Tyson." Said Sfyrí. "Your skills are needed here."

Tyson turned to Percy, looking almost pleading. Percy was torn. Tyson had been a great help in the Sea of Monsters, but he'd also almost died. He also knew what it was like to be left behind. After a long moment, he said "If it's alright with you, Sfyrí, I'd like to bring him along. We'll need him in the boiler room."

Tyson beamed, and after a long moment, Sfyrí bowed. "As you wish, my Lord. Let us go." They left the room, and re-entered the armoury. "If you have truly decided to embark on this quest, Tyson, you shall need a weapon. Take your pick." Said Sfyrí. Percy noticed that the elder Cyclops was gazing fondly at Tyson. There was something else though; maybe a hint of sadness?

Percy's heart sank. The Cyclops had given the impression that he could see the future. While Tyson was busy searching through a variety of weapons, he said to Sfyrí in a low voice "sir, when you looked at Tyson, you seemed...well...sad. Is... Is it a bad idea to let him come on this quest?"

Sfyrí turned to him and gave a small smile. "He is obviously destined to accompany you; we'd have to lock him up to stop him. That young Cyclops may have been safe if he'd stayed here with his kin and forged weapons like the rest of us. Clearly though that isn't his lot. He will have a hard future. I can only hope that the fates will be kind to him, as I have grown quite fond of that young one."

Tyson came back, grinning and holding a club. "I have a big stick! I will bash lots of monsters with it, boss. I'll make you proud!"

Sfyrí's smile widened. "I know you will, young one."

They left the armoury and the elder Cyclops turned to them once more. "Young ones, this is where we part ways. Your steeds will await you at the gates. Tyson, do our race proud and protect our lord."

Tyson nodded. "I will keep brother Percy safe!"

Sfyrí turned his gaze on Percy. "May the wind be ever at your back, son of Poseidon. May your sword serve you well and may the fates appoint you a fair doom. Farewell!"

**Okay, first I think I'd better say sorry to any readers I do have (Shut up you confounded crickets!) for the long, long delay. Over the last 2 weeks I have been cursed by the gods for my terrible writing with writer's block. Their desparate effort to save you held out until Thursday last week (for me in Australia.) I'd already done half the chapter before the writer's block, so by Friday the story was ready. I chose not to upload however because I didn't want to post a terrible chapter for the sake of doing it on the right day. So, thanks to my awsome reveiwer dalulzing I have now got a copy that I feel comfortable posting, as well as some cool new ideas for the future of this story. **

**I. Am. Not. Above. Begging. I. Will. Beg. For. Reveiws. If. I. Have. To. But I'd rather it not come to that. So *gets on knees* PLEEEASE REVEIW! Flames welcome! Anything! Although some criticism and advice would definitely go down best. As usual, the first to review will get a pre-release of the next chapter and my eternal gratitude! May the fates appoint you a fair doom! **


	7. Chapter 6

Well, thought Percy, that wasn't exactly an uplifting farewell. He gave the old Cyclops a nod and swam with Tyson towards the gates. He realized it was starting to get light; it was already past dawn.

"Hey, big guy, mind if I speed us up a bit?"

"Yes! Let's go fast! See Rainbow sooner!"

Percy grinned and willed the currents to carry them to the gates as fast as he dared. As he did, he noticed that it was easier than normal. _This sword'll come in very handy _he thought. Within a few short minutes they had arrived once more at the gates, and luckily Rainbow was back to his usual punctual self.

Tyson immediately started smiling when he saw his fishy-horsey friend while the fishy-horse himself performed a somersault.

_Hey Rainbow, we need to get back to Long Island. Er...Very fast. _

Rainbow seemed extremely pleased about that. _Yes, Lord! _

Tyson mounted Rainbow while Percy did the same with his miscellaneous friend, who was more appropriate for his own size. He wasn't even sitting on properly before they were racing off. Percy began to think that it had turned into a personal contest when both Hippocampi started going even faster than before, now with one in front, now with the other. That was when the ADHD part of his brain decided he should pitch in for the team.

He imagined that the currents were helping out his Hippocampi, pushing him forward and they instantly obeyed. _See you later, fellas!_

Dismayed, Tyson windmilled his massive arms through the water, but only succeeded in destabilizing himself. Percy had to use his power to prevent Tyson from falling off the Speeding Rainbow. By now the "normal" part of Percy's brain had caught up with him, bringing with it all of his rational concerns. He ordered the currents to help Rainbow as well, noticing the familiar wrench in his gut as he did so and this time a more significant drain in his energy. He leant low against his unnamed steed and rested as they shot through the murky depths, which were becoming ever lighter.

Even though Rainbow had been swimming quickly on his way to the palace of Poseidon, this trip proved to take less than half the time. Soon they had reached the stretch of shore that Percy had stood on hours earlier calling the name "Rainbow."

As they slowed to a halt in the shallows, Percy realized that despite his efforts both Hippocampi were totally exhausted. _They'd do anything if I asked them to_ he thought. It wasn't a pleasant idea.

_Thanks guys, you're the best. I've never seen anything swim that fast! _And that pleased the Hippocampi no end.

Tyson, on the other hand, would have been crying if it were possible underwater. _We will see each other soon, Rainbow? _

Rainbow the Hippocampi neighed sadly. _Whenever you need me. _

At that, Tyson dismounted, though clearly reluctantly. Percy did the same, and after exchanging a final mental farewell with his trusty sea-steeds, he waded onto the shore.

Ahead, he could see camp half blood, just the way he left it. Well, excluding the giant iron ship that was doing its utmost to pollute the river water. A gangplank connected said ship to the shore and by said gangplank stood the entire camp. Standing in front of the camp were three people: one smart looking and admittedly a teensy-bit pretty; another who sported long, curly hair and horns, and another dressed all in black punk clothes and wearing spiky hair, also black. _Thalia. _

Over the course of a few weeks, Thalia and Percy had become very fast friends, as their personalities were very similar. One thing was for sure: Percy was glad Thalia wasn't his enemy. Recently she had been away trying to find out about her mom. The little things like was she alive, where did she live, etc. etc.

Standing opposite to the trio was Clarisse, flanked by two zombie-confederate sailors. Just the kind of people he wanted to be with in the middle of the Ocean. The two sides seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument.

Percy and Tyson ran towards the gathering. As soon as he left the water, Percy felt a considerable drain on his strength which prevented him from continuing to sprint.

"You're being stupid! This is no ordinary quest to kill a monster; you're going to be facing Kronos himself and the entire titan army. You need all the help you can get!" He heard Annabeth say.

"No way, wise girl. The glory goes to Ares this time." That was Clarisse.

"How could you be so idiotic! Don't you realize that this is a war?" Percy thought that Thalia posed a fair question.

"Listen, punk. I am the daughter of the GOD OF WAR. I know this is a war and I know Ares is gonna win it." The name "punk" really didn't hurt so much when it was directed at Thalia.

Thalia's face was livid and she probably would have launched an explosive verbal salvo at Clarisse if she hadn't been drowned out by an uproar from the campers behind her.

"Quiet. Quiet!" Yelled Chiron. Everybody fell silent. "Clarisse, you must understand. No matter...No matter what _others _might want to gain from this quest, I know that you realize what is at stake here. You are in command here. Remember your duty to those who will fight under you. If you attack without the full support of the camp, even if you win, Ares campers will die. It is your responsibility to keep them safe, not throw their lives away on a fool's errand!"

Percy knew Chiron had hit Clarisse where it hurt. She'd shown when defending the camp during the episode with the fleece that she felt responsible for those under her command. It was, thought Percy, one of her few endearing traits.

Clarisse's expression wavered. Percy could tell her mind was racing and he hoped she was starting to second- guess herself. Then her expression hardened again.

"I'm under orders, horse-man. Ares only."

'Horse-man' was not a name that many directed at Chiron, for fear of finding an arrow lodged in the exact centre of their pupil. But, as always the Centaur's face remained calm.

"Clarisse, let us settle this now before too much time is lost. Allow us to find Percy and then the both of you will consult the oracle. Then we may see if you must allow other campers to help you on this quest."

For the first time, Clarisse looked truly unsure. _She's worried that the oracle will tell her she has to accept help _Percy realized. She shook her head.

"I don't need to consult the oracle. By the orders of my father, Lord Ares, only Ares campers are allowed on this ship. I will carry out his wishes. It's my duty." But to Percy she seemed to be trying to convince herself of that as much as the campers. "Where is seaweed brain, anyway? Gone off to sulk?"

Percy and Tyson had now reached the congregation. "I'm right here, Clarisse."

Clarisse sneered, but her face betrayed her surprise and... concern? "Well Jackson, you might as well go back to wherever you came from. You're not coming with me and neither is anyone else who isn't an Ares camper.

Percy desperately tried to fight the powerful waves of anger which were crashing against his mind. "Clarisse, be reasonable. I'm the only one here who can find out where the Princess Andromeda is."

Clarisse shook her head. "No way, punk."

"Then how do you plan to find the ship?" asked Annabeth.

Clarisse shrugged "We'll ask around."

Try as he might, Percy couldn't keep his anger contained any longer. "How could you do this? How could you throw away the lives of the Ares cabin? How could you allow Kronos to attack! He'll come for us, he'll ruin the camp and kill us all, and then he'll rip Olympus down and enslave the entire human race!" There was shocked silence. Though they all knew what a war might mean, nobody had said those things yet. Nobody had suggested that he entire world might fall if Clarisse didn't let the rest of the camp go on this mission.

Clarisse was speechless. She started shaking. Percy might have just imagined it, but maybe, just maybe, her bottom lip was trembling just a bit. Then she shouted "You don't get it, punk! You have no idea!"

But Percy did get it. There was one person who would ruin all of this. One reason why the mission would fail. One person who was forcing Clarisse to act stupid and unfair. Ares, Percy realized, had to be taken out of the equation if the quest was going to succeed.

"I understand perfectly, Clarisse. I know this is all your dad's fault! But you've gotta end this or we'll lose and it'll be your fault! You have to defy Ares! Don't you realize he's controlling you? How can you let him?"

Clarisse shut her eyes. After a long moment, she opened them again, and Percy saw she was fighting back tears. What would it be like to have a dad like that? Maybe if he was in Clarisse's position, he would have been as bad as she was. "I can't do anything. It's his ship."

Everybody but Chiron seemed completely stunned. None of them had ever seen Clarisse like this before.

Now, decided Percy, was the time to do something stupid. He had to roll the dice; he had to throw all of his weight at the problem if the situation was going to be salvaged. If Clarisse wouldn't defy Ares, then he would have to.

"Not anymore."

Clarisse's mouth fell open, mirroring the campers opposite her. Annabeth, Thalia and Grover turned to him, looking shocked, awed and scared. "What did you say?"

For a moment, Percy was speechless too. How could he have done something so dumb? _I've already jumped now _he thought. _I'm just going to have to swim. But what do I say? _Then he remembered the movies.

"You heard me. I'm Er... I'm commandeering this ship. It's mine now. Ares no longer has control over who sails on it."

Clarisse gaped at him. After a few seconds she began to stammer incoherently, and it took her several more to be able to form a proper sentence. "You can't do that. You don't have the right!"

"I am a son of Poseidon. That gives me the right."

Percy flashed a glance at Chiron and was pleased to see a hint of pride in the old Centaur's eyes.

When after several seconds Clarisse offered no response, Percy decided he might have just pulled it off. _She's not going to argue, because she knows she needs us. _

Percy turned to the zombie-sailor standing to Clarisse's right, who judging by his uniform and his pointy hat was the captain.

"Captain, you and your men are dismissed. Tell Ares that the ship is no longer his."

The captain simply nodded. "Aye, sir." The wind picked up and Percy watched as the sailor and his compatriot began to dissolve into nothingness, blown away like smoke.

Percy turned to the awed campers. "Right, now we have Ares out of the way, let's get down to business."

Annabeth walked to stand by his side, which relieved Percy. He'd had enough for the day; now someone who knew what they were doing could take command of the situation and make some smart choices that would actually _prevent _them all dying.

She turned to face him. "What are your orders, sir?"

Percy wore the expression of someone who had been betrayed. She was leaving _him _in charge? How could she? Had Annabeth lost her mind? _Get a hold of yourself! Now you've gotta say something really witty or you'll look really stupid. _

"Er...Umm..."

Percy felt a sharp pain in his ribs and assumed that Annabeth's elbow was the cause.

"Alright, I think...Beckendorf, you and the Hephaestus cabin should take a look at this ship. It...It's not designed for deep water. _Yeah, that's alright! _

"And...er... we're gonna need a crew. We should be able to fit everyone in. Don't bring what you don't need. Er, Chiron? Could you...

"I will make sure the ship is supplied. I think I shall talk to Dionysius..."

Percy smiled. At least the old centaur seemed to be on his side.

He turned back to Clarisse. She looked livid and relieved at the same time; it was an odd mix.

"Clarisse...Could you and the Ares cabin take charge of weapons? Everyone needs to be able to fight with a weapon they're comfortable with."

Clarisse remained silent. Then she strode up to him and poked him in the chest. "I'll let you off the hook just this once, punk, because I owe you one for saving me from the Cyclops. Then she strode off without another word. He turned back to the throng, slightly abashed; noticing how utterly mad the rest of the Ares camp looked. _Taking them with us is a really, really bad idea. _He decided.

"Lee, I'm afraid I don't think we're all gonna come out of this unscathed."

Lee nodded. "We'll go see what medical supplies we can find."

Percy now turned to Annabeth. She looked almost as if she approved of how he was doing.

"Wise girl, just...Er...Take charge of the situation?...Please?"

She grinned at him. "Okay seaweed brain, just this once."

Finally he turned back to the rest of the camp, who were still standing there, waiting for some inspirational finale. "We all know the risks here. Nobody has to come and if you don't no one will think less of you."

Travis Stoll stepped forward, shaking his head in clear disappointment. "Percy...You really don't know us very well at all, do you?

Over the next few hours, Percy helped out with various tasks; loading food and clothes and weapons and medical supplies into the ship's hold. Thankfully, Annabeth had been taking care of the non-menial tasks; organizing the cargo and bunks for the campers. This was no mean feat since everybody had elected to join the voyage. Clarisse had for once been less angry than normal and had been helpful to everyone who needed her services in finding a weapon to suit them.

It was close to sundown and Percy was carrying a godly first aid kit containing powerful magical items such as nectar, ambrosia and band-aids. Beckendorf, who he had not seen since he and the rest of his cabin had gone off to get the ship sea-worthy, came running up to him with a scowl on his face.

Percy smiled. "Beckendorf! What's up?"

"That damn trickster Ares is up, Percy!"

Percy frowned. "What now"

"That ship isn't just unworthy for an ocean voyage. It can barely float! Ares must have 'forgotten' to repair the battle damage."

Percy's frown was rapidly morphing into a furious snarl. He hated Ares. He knew that he was a coward. But he'd never go so far to think that he would kill his own daughter with an underhand trick.e knew he H"That...That..." When he was unable to come up with a curse that would properly describe Ares, he simply asked Beckendorf "Can you repair it?"

Beckendorf nodded. "It'll take a few days, but we can get it sea-worthy."

Percy shook his head. "That's not good enough!"

Beckendorf nodded. "I know. But we don't have another choice!"

Percy wasn't listening. Throwing his mind outwards as he did when speaking to either a horse or a sea-creature, he yelled _CAPTAIN!_ at the top of his metaphorical voice.

The sea-wind picked up once again and the captain materialized. "Sir?"

"You set us up."

The nameless captain shook his head. "No, sir. It was the god of war who attempted to betray you. Not me."

Percy's hand clenched into a fist. "Well, captain, you are recalled to duty."

The zombie-sailor looked shocked. "You dare not defy the will of the war god!"

Percy was shaking with rage now. He pointed to the Confederate vessel. "That is MY ship and you are its captain. You are under my command, not Ares'!"

"My pledge is to the war god, not to you. No mortal, demigod or human, may keep me from the underworld."

"Then why are you still here?" growled Beckendorf.

The captain didn't answer.

"You and your crew will repair your ship. When that's done, I will release you can have whatever afterlife you deserve."

The captain all of a sudden looked eager. "Aye, sir!" And with that he ran off.

Beckendorf turned to Percy. "Nice one!"

Percy grinned, but inside he was still fuming. He uttered a silent prayer. _I will get you, Ares. _

**Okay, looks like I'm finally ready to get rolling with this story! I was in the middle of writing chapter 5 when I realized I'd forgotten totally about Thalia! Well, now I've remembered here, I can assure you she'll be playing a very large part in this story. **

**I've been thinking about where this story should go in the long run. Originally the idea was for it to fit in between the SOM and the Titan's Curse, but now I've been thinking about making it much bigger. Enlarging this storyline is an idea that I'm really exited about. I have a lot of ideas (not least a few OCs) which I'd love to add, but the whole thing would take up a lot of time and writing this thing has actually proved to be more challenging than I expected. So, I think I'll leave it up to whoever reads this to decide. Would you like there to be sequels to this fic, or should it be a stand alone story? **

**I'm really excited to have almost 1000 veiws-but only 6 reweiws! I do implore anyone reading this fic to give me some feedback, even harsh words are better than nothing. Also, I will only decide whether do have a sequel or stand alone when I have a few votes for either side. **


	8. Chapter 7

Over the next few days the Hephaestus cabin worked furiously to repair the Confederate ship. Percy had managed to divert the flow of the river (much to the displeasure of the Naiads who had been forced to relocate upstream) and beach the ship, somehow keeping it upright. Several more members of the cabin were in the forges, led by Tyson, busily making super-cannon balls by encasing them with Celestial bronze. Beckendorf and several more of his cabin mates had been upgrading the ship's engines, which (as Tyson had made a point of mentioning) were not designed for deep water.

And even though he knew it all needed to be done, Percy still hated it. He had a feeling that whatever Luke was doing he needed to stop it, _now. _They were wasting time and Percy was sure that the Kronos crew were up to something. He was also sure that he would not enjoy it if they succeeded, and so stopping them from achieving their goal was quite high on his priority list.

Thalia had been just as unhappy about the whole situation, despite Annabeth and Chiron's attempts to pacify the two of them. Percy wondered if she was having the same feeling that was annoying the hell out of him.

But their lack of action wasn't the only thing bothering Percy; Ares was another. The war god may be have been a coward but the wimp was still dangerous. He had betrayed the gods to Kronos before and Percy saw no reason why he wouldn't do it again. He had sent them a dodgy boat perhaps in the hope than Clarisse, in her infinite haste, would simply neglect to find out about the holes in the hull and simply sail out to sea with all of the camp's finest warriors; his own kids. The thought of Ares betraying the Ares cabin sickened Percy, although he failed to have much sympathy for the Ares campers themselves.

And now that they were going into battle with a new, improved and floating Ironclad warship, Percy fully expected Kronos to send his pawn Ares to restore the ship to mint condition.

It was 3 days before Beckendorf was happy that they were "probably all going to die, but take an undetermined quantity of Kronos' army with them," and if they're lucky had the capability to potentially ruin the Princess Andromeda's paintwork."

Upon hearing this Annabeth had said that those were "pretty good odds by their standards" and after changing their outlook their outlooks on life to much, much more positive ones, Travis and Connor had decided to take it and run. Since Percy was intent on keeping hold of his ship, he and everyone else had reluctantly elected to join them.

Being decent, respectable thieves, Travis and Connor had waited until first light of the following morning to steal the ship and, being extremely tired and cranky for it Percy had joined them on deck.

"Make no mistake," said Connor, "we're making off with this ship. This is a robbery, don't forget it."

Percy smiled; it felt weird. "This isn't fair, I want my ship back!"

"And so does Clarisse" Travis pointed out.

"She wasn't very happy with you for stealing her ship, you know." Supplied Connor.

"No need to feel bad about it, it's just...personal." said Travis. Percy grinned.

"She's mad at everyone,"

"All the time." Percy wondered how they managed to speak in turn so fluently.

"Ares though," said Connor, "he's not mad with you."

Percy raised his eyebrows.

"He's furious." Said Travis.

"He hates your guts, man." Added Connor.

"And your arms. And your legs. And your head, which I'm sure he hopes to see on a silver platter sometime soon." Said Travis.

"Or a pole. Much more gruesome, I think" said Connor. For the first time in ages, Percy laughed.

Annabeth came striding down the gangplank. "Okay Percy everything's ready. We just need to wake everyone up, have our last breakfast and we're good to go."

Percy's face fell "Might be the last good meal we have in..."

"Hey!" yelled Connor.

"Percy turned to him. What? Oh, please don't tell me you're going to cook."

And evil grin spread across Connor's face. "Oh? Is that a problem? I'll have you know my cooking is the best you'll ever taste on an Ironclad warship!" They all laughed, even though Percy was sure he wasn't going to find it funny when the sole source of food came from the co-best prankster in the camp.

Thalia and Grover were now crossing the gangplank and boarding the ship.

"Alright, G man?" Asked Percy.

"Awesome." Replied Grover. "I'm sure I'm gonna have a really great time right up until we get onto the water."

"Hey Grover, I know Satyrs aren't meant for the ocean. You know, that wild god's not gonna find himself..."

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for a truck full of tin cans." Said Grover. Percy almost sighed with relief. Knowing that his best friend would be with him made him feel a lot better.

"Come on, seaweed brain." Said Thalia. "Time for the last supper." "

"Breakfast." Corrected Connor.

They strolled across the gangplank and back up to the big house. Most of the camp was already inside. Percy went to join Tyson at the Poseidon table.

"What will you eat, brother?" Asked Tyson.

"Not sure." Percy replied. "What do you eat in Poseidon's kingdom anyway?"

"Lots of fish." Replied Tyson. "And sometimes kelp as a garnish." Percy decided he wouldn't mention this to Annabeth; he didn't want to give her another reason to call him 'kelp head.'

A few minutes passed with everyone making polite (or in the case of the Ares cabin impolite) conversation. Then Chiron tapped his glass with a spoon to get everyone's attention.

_Here it comes _thought Percy. _Some great speech that'll make everyone feel much better. I can feel it. _

Chiron opened his mouth then closed it after a second. After a long silence he said "Eat well!"

_What? _Thought Percy incredulously. _That's it? Eat well? _It worried Percy as well. If the seemingly perpetually optimistic Chiron wasn't saying anything it was because he couldn't see a bright side to the situation. Everyone else seemed to be thinking along the same lines, especially Annabeth.

After a pause that seemed to take an extraordinarily long time, Chiron wrestled his face to move into what, if you squinted really hard and looked at it out of the corner of your eye, looked exactly nothing like a smile. No, decided Percy, it was definitely a grimace. "To the gods!" Everybody raised their glasses and echoed him, though rather half-heartedly.

They all then proceeded to order their food and drinks to thin air, were consistently unsurprised when food and drink appeared for them, and threw all the best parts in the fire. A part of Percy's mind was absentmindedly thinking about how if they lost all the food would be going in to the fire, and it would probably be taking them with it. Another part disagreed; it decided that Kronos would prefer to just have them throw all their food to him and let them slowly starve to death. Since this definitely sounded more like Kronos' style, the being-thrown-into-the-fire part of his brain quickly conceded the point.

While Percy was pondering this, the rest of the camp had descended into what they were trying to pull off as light conversation. The exceptions were the Athena campers, who had descended into a very deep and meaningful discussion about tactics, supplies, and how to get rid of Clarisse.

It was all over much sooner than anyone would have liked and a long time before they would have liked they were all on the ship, with everything ready to go, an absence of holes and no viable excuse as to why they shouldn't set sail right now.

Everything was ready. They were leaving the camp. Not all of them were coming back. Percy stood at the prow of the ship.

He turned his mind to the river. He asked it politely to resume its original course. It asked him why should it after it had been so _rudely _diverted, Percy made it clear that it was an order and the river, tugging at his gut as much as was riverly possible, grudgingly agreed. Water began to flow again down the channel again. It was flowing fast. It was flowing very fast, and right towards them. Percy turned around to the campers. "Brace for impact!" he yelled as loud as he could over the sound of the water. A few people got the message and desperately grabbed on to something, some took it too far and hit the deck, and the rest copied the people who were grabbing on to things and throwing themselves onto their bellies.

With an almighty crash the water hit their stern. The massive boat was thrown forward. The stern lifted. Just as everything was about to start sliding, Percy jerked the boat backwards as hard as he could and within a second they were on top of the flow, the foaming water now crashing around their sides. The gangplank got motion sick, decided that things were never going to work out between it and the ship and fell off. The mooring ropes straightened. They were on the water and Percy could feel it. Everyone else seemed to feel it too. Or maybe they could just see it. People stood up and let go and cheered. Up on the banks, Percy could see Chiron smiling. Percy was glad he'd come to see them off; he gave everyone confidence and at the beginning of their voyage confidence was just what the camp needed.

Chiron strode up to the banks. Then he took Percy by surprise for the second time that day. "Permission to come aboard, sir?"

Percy was stunned. Chiron had always stayed behind before. It filled him with relief and dread at the same time. He was relieved that they would have Chiron with them; his help would be invaluable, not least his ability to be rather foolishly optimistic loudly enough for everyone to hear. On the other hand, if Chiron had decided they needed him, their chances must have been very, very slim.

"Granted." Said Percy, grinning. Chiron turned and trotted about 10 metres away from the banks. Percy grinned even more broadly now. "Make way!" he yelled.

Everyone cleared the deck that was directly in front of the centaur. Some even seemed to know why.

Chiron galloped forward, and taking one giant leap, cleared the bank and hit the deck of the ship. Everyone clapped and Percy laughed.

"I may be getting too old for that sort of thing" Chiron commented mildly.

Percy smiled. "Personally I think that was very good."

Chiron came closer to Percy and whispered to him. "Do you know where he is?"

Percy nodded. He'd checked that morning. "Good." Said Chiron.

Percy turned to his new crew who were all eyeing him expectantly. If there was ever a time for saying something inspirational, it was now. Nothing was forthcoming.

"Well, what are you looking at? Engine crew, get down to the boiler room! Cast off!"

Several Hermes campers went down into the engine room with the Hephaestus campers and a few others ran to untie the moorings.

He turned to Connor. "What do you say to a celebratory lunch later?"

Connor grinned. "You got it. Come on, cooks!" Connor walked the hatchway that led below decks with a few of his cabin mates.

"Oh, and Connor!" Percy shouted after him. Connor turned. "Try to keep the detergent out of the soup!" the prankster grinned.

"Wouldn't dream of it!"

The ship jerked as the moorings were cast off and it began to float along the river towards the open sea.

Percy watched his favourite place in the world slip by. At the first bend in the river Percy casually willed the rudder to turn to keep the ship on track. Soon they had reached the sea. As they crossed into open waters, a Hephaestus cabin member climbed out of the hatch. "Boiler room reports ready, sir."

Percy nodded. "Take us out, ¼ steam ahead."

Within a few seconds the ship had started up and it slowly began to gain speed.

When they were a few hundred metres from the shoreline he willed the rudder to turn in exactly the direction he wanted. Then he turned back to the campers behind him. "You guys should probably go and unpack all your stuff. It's going to be a long trip."

"Aye aye, captain." They said.

Percy shook his head. "Percy's just fine, thanks."

"Yes, sir!" Travis replied, a mischievous smile on his face. Laughing, they all went below. All expect Annabeth, Grover, Thalia and Chiron.

"You did well, Percy." Said Chiron. "You make a fine captain." Percy couldn't help but feel confident at his words.

"Don't worry, seaweed brain" said Annabeth. "With the five of us together, what could possibly go wrong?"

"I'll have to think about that one," said Percy, "the list is pretty long."


	9. Chapter 8

**Okay, I know it's been a very long time and I'm very sorry and very ashamed of myself and all that. The next chapter should come around a lot quicker though! **

It was later that day and Percy was getting increasingly puzzled. This was not an extraordinary thing. He was puzzled by lots of things. In fact, he tended to be puzzled by things that Annabeth generally wasn't. It was also no extraordinary thing that Annabeth was puzzled. She often puzzled about things that other people found rather hard to understand or find time to care about, given that they were of course chasing a monster cruise ship filled with mythical creatures and carrying not only one of the most formidable demigods alive but also the most powerful titan dead.

The thing that Percy was stumped by was the question "why the hell is Luke sailing to the North Pole?"

He wasn't great at Geography or any other of his classes besides Latin for that matter and that was only because his Latin teacher had owned an impressive array of Roman weapons and had allowed his to use them and had turned out to not be human. Despite this, he knew that the North Pole was not a common place to sail a cruise ship. He wasn't sure whether it was more common to sail a monster infested cruise ship that way which is why part of his brain was now pondering whether his question would be answered by now if he'd picked up that brochure for a magical geography course he'd seen at the camp store.

Unable to make any headway with his thoughts he elected to talk to someone smarter than him.

"Annabeth?"

The person in question had just come out of a deep, meaningful discussion with the Athena campers about supplies and strategy which had been going on and off for about 24 hours and was now off to discuss much the same things with Chiron.

"Percy? What's up?"

"Do you think it's a little weird that Luke is heading for the North Pole?"

"It's what I'd do if I expected to be followed and wanted to get to the West coast."

"Why not just take the Panama canal?"

"I'd guess he expects us to expect them to go that way. If we didn't have you and we knew somehow Luke was headed for the West Coast that's the way I'd go to follow him."

"Or...Or I could have got it wrong. Maybe I've got the wrong co-ordinates."

Annabeth looked hard at him. "What makes you think that?"

Well, the weirdness of Luke going to the North Pole,"

"Already explained that."

"And...And, well, the first time I did this, Chiron said Poseidon was helping me. But this time...he kind of hinted that I was on my own."

"But" said Annabeth "It's in Poseidon's interests that we succeed. If he is leaving you alone on this, he must believe that you don't need help."

"He could be wrong."

"We're talking about a god here."

"Well, do _you _believe that I can do this without my dad's help?"

Annabeth replied instantly. "Yes, I do."

Percy smiled, still feeling uneasy. "Thanks Annabeth."

Annabeth favoured him with a small smile in return. "If you're still uncertain about your powers, you should come with me and talk to Chiron. I think he wanted to see you."

"Sure." Said Percy, falling in behind her as she continued on towards Chiron's quarters.

The corridors of the old ship were narrow and, well, old-looking. Percy thought absentmindedly about talking to Grover and the Demeter cabin about giving the interior a more natural feel. Maybe Silena could make the paintwork a little brighter.

They soon reached Chiron's cabin. The centaur needed his own quarters due to his abnormal size and leg-configuration so Percy had given him the captain's cabin.

The place was plain as Chiron had bought only a few possessions with him and was dominated by a table in the centre and a bed in one corner. The latter item was the envy of the entire campcrew as almost everyone else got bunks. In Chiron's defence however his aforementioned abnormal size and leg configuration was not about to let him fit into a bunk. Tyson suffered from the same problem but he was staying with the relatively small Hephaestus cabin who could afford to lose the space of a double bed. In other news, Travis Stoll had been walking around the corridors advertising growth inducing solutions and in a freak turn of events some people had actually bought them. Realizing how stupid they had been to buy something from Travis Stoll they had proceeded to chase after said son of Hermes and wave swords and spears in his direction in a rather unfriendly way.

Annabeth knocked and Chiron opened the door for them and he probably greeted them though they were unable to hear him over the unmistakable voice of Frank Sinatra.

Chiron smiled at them, realized that Frank Sinatra was a little on the loud side, turned him down and ushered the two inside.

"Percy, Annabeth! What can I do for you?"

"Hi, Chiron. Well, I do need to sort out the roster for the watch but Percy has some more important things he needs to ask you. I'll be able to handle it myself."

And without another word she turned around and strode out of the room.

"Annabeth, could you find Thalia and bring her here for me?"

"Sure thing Chiron." She replied, continuing into the corridor and closing the door behind her.

"And what might these pressing matters be?" asked the old Centaur.

"Well..."

"Go on, I'm not like other monsters. I swear I won't try to eat you."

Percy made an attempt to smile but he knew the fake was never going to fool Chiron.

"Chiron...Are you sure my powers are enough to get us through this?"

"Of course not!" he replied, making Percy even more confused. So much for positive thinking.

"Beckendorf's earlier statement seems quite accurate to me. Our chances of actually winning against the titans without backup are really rather slim indeed. But I think you know that too."

"Yes. I was just wondering...Since you said that Posiedon had been granting me more power than I usually have in the Sea of Monsters...Could I have got it wrong? Is Luke really going to the North Pole?"

Chiron smiled warmly. He seemed to have a knack for being honest yet reassuring. Percy supposed he'd had a lot of practice lifting people's spirits over the years.

"Did Poseidon ever _imply _that it was he who guided you in the Sea of Monsters?"

"Not exactly, but you told me so."

"Yes, I did. Perhaps I was right. But even if I was, if he gave you the knowledge and power, do you think he could or would take away from you what you had learned?"

"Well, no, but, wasn't it sort of like a one-off boost? I mean, I don't feel any different. I don't _know_ how to do the things I did back then."

"Did you feel different or know more before?"

"No."

"Then you have no reason to believe you have lost the knowledge."

"And no reason to believe I've kept it, either."

"Percy, it comes down to this. You already had the power. What your father gave you was the _understanding _of how to use it_."_

"But I just said I don't know anything more than I used to."

"You _knew _that you had the power to do those things. You _knew _exactly where you were when you could find Grover, even though you'd never even heard of the island before. You _knew _how to sail that ship with a word, even though you'd never sailed before even with your hands. _That, _Percy, is what Poseidon gave to you; the realization of your power. And that is something he could not take away from you even if he wanted to."

"So, I know where the Princess Andromeda is and I just have to...remember?"

"No! I you know that you can find out where the Princess Andromeda is; that you have the ability to know. But that is different entirely to actually knowing. Knowing your ability does not necessarily mean that you will always succeed in your task."

They were silent for a few moments. Then, Percy decided that we would double check. If what Chiron said was true, then he still couldn't be certain that he'd got the Princess Andromeda's location right. He voiced this opinion to Chiron. The centaur's face darkened.

"Perhaps that would not be wise."

"But you've just told me.."

"I told you that you cannot always be certain of your success, but there are times when we must also be sure of ourselves. If we constantly second guess our own judgement then we will never do what must be done."

"But there's too much at risk here. If we end up going thousands of miles in the wrong direction, we'll have no chance of stopping Luke before he reaches wherever he's trying to get to."

"Percy," said Chiron slowly "you must remember that the Titan Lord has power beyond our comprehension, and he never works alone. Whatever goal he is trying to accomplish, he is already weeks ahead of us. Our only hope of stopping him may be the element of surprise. If we turn our attention towards him too often, he may discover that we're following him and our task will be made much more difficult."

"Even if all we do is sense the rough location of his ship?"

"There is more than one Titan Percy. While Kronos alone may not be able to detect everything, others may. In this case, I fear the intervention of Oceanus."

_I'd forgotten totally about him! _Thought Percy. _He could have already sensed me from when I tried to find Kronos yesterday. _

"Percy, you must be able to think of these things in case you're left on your own. You must come to understand your power. There are many facets of it you have not yet even considered. And no," said Chiron, as if he was reading Percy's mind, "these studies should not be limited only to the intellectual understanding of your powers. You need to be trained. You are a great swordsman, but your skills can always be perfected. More important however is the ways you use your powers in battle. Up until now, you have relied mostly on your sword to win your fights, but now we face such formidable enemies, you must learn to become equally proficient with your mind."

_What, he's going to try to make me smart?_

Chiron smiled, again giving Percy the impression of mind reading. "This has nothing to do with intellect. The best way to describe it to you would be that you need to learn the art of sorcery, although it's more complicated like that. You don't use magic like Lady Circe does. Your power is something much more ancient and much greater. Perhaps a better way to put it would be that you need to learn to fight like a god would."

At that moment, Thalia walked through the door. This was the first time Percy had been able to look at her closely since she had returned from her attempt to find out more about her family, and Percy realized she wasn't looking happy. He made a mental note to talk to her about it later, though he was decidedly doubtful that he could do much more than make her angry at him. Making people happy was Chiron's departments and maybe, he thought, it would be best to leave this particular job to him.

"Ah, Thalia dear! Perfect timing. Come, come in!"

Thalia stood in the doorway. "This better be important Chiron." Percy examined her closely and realized that she had been crying. It was hard to believe someone as tough as her ever did, but he could tell it from the quavering, unsteady sound of her voice and the tracks that ran down her checks.

If Chiron noticed then he didn't show it, but Percy had long given up trying to figure out what Chiron knew and simply reverted to the usually accurate assumption that he knew everything about everyone. "I have some important things to discuss with you and Percy." He said. "It's about the war."

Thalia seemed to gather her composure at that point and strode into the room.

"As I was saying" began Chiron, "I mean to train you both in the art of using magic, though I speak loosely when I call it that."

Percy could tell that Chiron now had Thalia's full attention. He knew there was nothing she cared about more than killing Kronos; another thing they had in common.

"You two are our most powerful assets in the coming fight. You are both extremely proficient in using your chosen weapon. You both know how to use magic, but not as well as I would like." He paused and nodded to both of them.

"You need training. More than that, you need to come to better understand your powers."

Thalia looked a little defensive at that. "And you know our powers better than we do?"

Chiron paused for a moment, then said "Thalia, have you ever considered, your father being the king of the skies, that you could take control of the winds? The weather? That you could use the power within you to throw an opponent through the air without even touching them? Blast them off their feet? Stop them from getting where they want to go?"

After a few long seconds, Thalia shook her head. "No, I hadn't thought of those things."

Chiron turned to Percy. "Percy, have you ever considered what you can do with the power of water? Take ice, for example."

Percy looked at him questioningly, not an uncommon occurrence. Chiron rarely made sense to Percy or most other people for that matter. In fact, it seemed that the only person capable of holding a conversation with him was Annabeth.

"You know how to control the flow of water. Have you ever stopped to consider that you could stop it altogether? Freeze it solid? That you could create an iceberg that could tear through the _Princess Andromeda's _hull? Or even encase it so that it would be completely unable to escape? It doesn't stop there though. What about freezing the air itself? You could conjure up daggers of ice to fling at your opponents. Oh, and I'd very much like to see what that sword Sfyrí forged for you can do. "

Percy had not considered that. He was about to ask how Chiron knew who had forged his sword, but thought better of it. There really was no point.

"That is what I mean to teach you. To be creative and inventive in how you use magic. If you can always surprise your enemies they won't always be able to guard against you and eventually one of your attacks will destroy them."

There was another long pause. After a few seconds, Percy didn't break it. "It sounds worthwhile." Said Thalia.

"Yeah, definitely worth a shot." Agreed Percy.

Chiron smiled. "Good! Actually...It might be a good idea for Grover to tag along with us. I know a fair amount of nature magic that he might be able to use. Could you go and ask Clarisse whether we could have some training dummies bought up on deck and find Grover too? I shall go and speak to Annabeth. We need to decide where we'll be getting provisions. If we're going north, we may need some items that we didn't bring with us. I'll see you in a minute. "

_Perhaps there's some meaning for it _thought Percy. _Or maybe Chiron's just forgotten that little episode with Clarisse earlier. _The fact that Clarisse had surrendered her ship to him without a fight did not fool Percy into believing her attitude towards him had changed for the better or even been as good as it had been prior to the event.

Thalia and Percy strode through the narrow corridors of the Ironclad warship. Since they were going to a place that neither of them wanted to be, neither was in a hurry. Still, as they did in fact eventually arrive, both of them thought that the journey had gone too quickly and felt a great wave of nostalgia for the time when they weren't standing outside the Ares cabin door.

It had to be done. There was no other way. _If the Ares kids are going to beat me up, _thought Percy, _we might as well get it over with before lunch. _He raised his hand in preparation for knocking the door. He lowered his other hand toward the hilt of his sword. Just in case. Then:

"Punks."

Percy froze. Thalia didn't. To her, just sounded like a regular Ares camper voice: rough, arrogant and a little dumb. What Percy knew and she didn't was that they were hearing the god of all those things speak. Instantly, Percy turned to Thalia and put his finger on his lip. She wasn't going to speak anyway so it was completely pointless. Then he turned back and placed his ear on the door, thought better of it, and took two steps backwards so his ear was to the wall.

"F-father." Came the reply. It was, if not fearful, apprehensive and definitely not enthusiastic. The Ares campers said the word with no cohesion whatsoever and while their voices were still rough and stupid they were no longer arrogant, more sullen. Either they were afraid of him or they respected him greatly as a) their father and b) a person who was even less liked than they were. Comprehension flooded Thalia's face and her mouth dropped into a big, comical "O".

"Well, well, well. Aren't you a sorry bunch?"

_Absolutely. _Though Percy.

"F-father, I had no choice. Jackson's a son of Posiedon. He...he..."

"Excuses." He said, steel in his voice.

"But..."

"If you were a true daughter of mine you would have taken Jackson's head for that insult. You shame yourself and more importantly me with your _cowardice." _

There was a pause. A pause filled with menace. "And what did you all do? You stood by and watched her weakness. Still, you stuck behind your commander, and I suppose that redeems you a little."

Percy's head filled with anger. Ares was bullying his own kids and, despite their own behaviour towards others, the Ares cabin wasn't willing to stand up to him.

"So. You're all cowards but I forgive you because you were doing as you were told as is your place. I do not, however, forgive the actions of Clarisse. She is supposed to lead you and yet she has disgraced us all. Furthermore, she has humiliated us, all of us, in front of that worthless worm Jackson. You have aided my enemy!" Percy imagined that Ares was directing an accusing index finger at Clarisse at this point.

Fury crossed Thalia's face at the insult to her friend which lifted Percy's spirits a little.

"Clarisse, you are no longer fit to lead the Ares cabin. You are no longer fit to bear my name! We are related in blood only. You shall never again be called my daughter, you shall never again call me your father, you shall no longer be considered a part of the Ares cabin! You are disgraced and disowned, now get out of my sight."

Percy nodded to Thalia. They both knew what to do. Clarisse opened the door and slammed it shut. She was shaking, with anger or sadness or both it was impossible to tell. She turned and saw Percy and her mouth fell open. The second it did Thalia ran up behind her and placed a hand over it. The two girls struggled, Thalia fighting to keep Clarisse from yelling out more than anything. As fast as he could Percy drew his sword and pointed the tip of Clarisse's throat. Predictably, she stopped struggling. All three now continued to listen in silence.

"As for the rest of you" came Ares' voice after a long pause, "I'm going to give you one more chance to redeem yourselves. This whole thing is a complete screw up. The other cabins must learn to respect us again. You shall take this ship, by any means necessary, and then you shall put the survivors off it. You will then continue with your mission."

There was a shocked silence. Again. Then a voice Percy had heard before spoke "Yes father."

"Good." Replied Ares. "Alex, you are now in charge of your pathetic little siblings."

Percy didn't even have time to be amazed at Ares' stupidity. He, Thalia and Clarisse, now completely unrestrained, ran down the corridor as fast as they could.

As they ran Percy took the opportunity to express his amazement at Ares' stupidity. "What does he think he's doing? He's stark raving mad if he think the Ares campers can do this alone."

"You're right." Replied Clarisse unexpectedly. "And he is. But I think he's just trying to get revenge for us humiliating him." Clarisse's voice was full of anger. If she cared about nothing else it was her cabin, her troops. Or at least, her former troops.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time." Replied Percy, looking back at Clarisse.

All of a sudden Thalia, who was standing in front, stopped dead, and the other two almost collided into her. "And what about you, Clarisse? Up for a little revenge too?"

Clarisse turned red with rage. "Listen, punk! My dad just _disowned _me and now he's trying to get everyone on this ship killed! I'm not with him anymore and I'm proud of it!"

Thalia snarled. "And what about..."

"We don't have time for this!" yelled Percy. "Clarisse, swear on the river Styx you're not on Ares' side and that you will not try to take revenge on me or anyone else in the camp for any reason."

"I swear on the river Styx that I'm no longer with my father and that I'm not going to try to take revenge on you or anyone else in the camp for anything." She replied a little hesitantly, as if undecided whether she could say such a thing without dropping dead.

"Alright, now let's go!" yelled Percy.

The three stood on the deck of the warship, panting. Chiron was there and so was Annabeth.

"Ah, hello! Have you got the equipment?"

"Whatever you're talking about, horse man, it'll have to wait. My dad has just incited a mutiny within the Ares cabin. They're going to try and take the ship."

Everyone on deck stood in silence. Percy didn't have time to be stunned or silent so he stopped displaying both qualities first.

"Well, what are you waiting for? If we're quick we can catch them napping. All of you, spread the word; we need everyone down in the Ares section and make sure they don't know we're coming! Go quiet and go quick! Lock down the Ares section, now!"

**Finally, some action! I realized this story was just dragging on with all the "scene setting" so I decided to add in some unexpected fighting! Pleeeease rewiew, it doesn't take long, it isn't hard, and even a short one is extremely uplifting to hear. Constructive criticism would be best, unconstructive criticism welcomed too, flame all you like, compliments would be nice. As usual, first reviewer gets a sneak peek of the next chapter! May I also extend my thanks to Dalulzing, who has helped me lots with ideas for this story. You're awesome zing! **


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